Satellite images show the scale of the destruction from LA's wildfires
Major fires in the Los Angeles area have leveled entire communities.
Satellite images show flames wreaking havoc on houses, businesses, and other structures.
At least 10 people have died, and the fires have destroyed about 10,000 structures.
Widespread fires have besieged the Los Angeles area for four days. At least 10 people have died and more than 150,000 have been ordered to evacuate their homes.
As of Friday afternoon, six separate fires were still burning in parts of the city and its surrounding areas, but firefighters were making progress during a reprieve from powerful winds.
Satellite and aerial images provided to Business Insider by Maxar Technologies and Nearmap show the trail of destruction the fires have left in Altadena, Pasadena, Malibu, and Pacific Palisades, some of the most heavily affected areas.
The Palisades and Eaton Fires
These two blazes spread for days with firefighters unable to stop their growth.
As of Friday at noon Pacific Time, the Palisades fire had consumed more than 20,400 acres and was 8% contained, and the Eaton Fire had burned more than 13,600 acres with 3% containment, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Together, they've destroyed about 10,000 structures, the agency estimates.
Entire neighborhoods burned to the ground
Charred, leveled communities like this are emerging in the paths of both fires.
A windstorm quickly spread the fires
Pacific Palisades, a neighborhood on the west side of Los Angeles County, was the first to be devastated. The fire there broke out on Tuesday morning.
The blaze spread so far, so quickly in part because of a windstorm that the National Weather Service called "life-threatening and destructive."
Gusts up to 100 mph carried burning embers far into residential areas, igniting spot fires that grew into an urban conflagration.
In the above image, you can see where some of those spot fires began far from the initial brush fire.
Some of the world's most expensive homes burned
The Palisades Fire alone has become the most destructive fire ever to hit Los Angeles County, CNN reported Wednesday, citing Cal Fire data. Fire experts suspect it could be the costliest in California history, maybe even in US history.
The Altadena neighborhood also burned
These satellite images show houses burned down in the Altadena neighborhood, one of the areas most affected by the Eaton Fire.
The neighborhood was virtually destroyed
Houses and buildings on East Altadena Drive are glowing orange with flame and shrouded in smoke in this image from Wednesday.
Flying over the area after the flames subsided, the ABC7 helicopter pilot Scott Reiff said, "it looks basically like it was carpet-bombed."
In Pasadena, idyllic streets turned to ash
When houses are built this close together, one burning building can easily ignite its neighbors. A house fire burns much hotter than a forest fire because of the materials that are burning, according to Louis Gritzo, the chief science officer at the commercial property insurance company FM.
Many homes didn't stand a chance. They were under siege from "the high heat release from one burning structure combined with a continual ember attack," Gritzo said.
The road to Malibu burned
The Pacific Coast Highway and Tuna Canyon Road, which connects Malibu and Topanga, were covered in smoke Wednesday as fires burned through.
Many of the homes along the PCH have been incinerated.
Malibu did, too
The true scale of devastation and loss of life may not become clear for many days.
Fire conditions may continue for days
A red flag warning for critical fire weather is set to continue in Los Angeles and Ventura counties through 6 p.m. Friday.
The National Weather Service expects about 18 hours of reprieve before another round of "gusty" winds late Saturday into Sunday, with a stronger wind event possible Monday night through Wednesday.
"We're not out of the woods yet," said Courtney Carpenter, a warning-coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service.
Correction: January 9, 2025 — An earlier version of this story misspelled the name of a warning-coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service. She's Courtney Carpenter, not Courtney Carpen.
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